Connecticut Pastor Kenneth Moales Jr. is speaking out after a harrowing encounter with a teen carjacker, warning that America is witnessing the rise of a “Godless generation.”
While in Baltimore on June 29 to officiate a funeral, Moales was attacked by a 16-year-old armed suspect who attempted to steal his car. The pastor fought back, wrestled the gun away, and tackled the teen to the ground. But once he saw how young his attacker was, Moales offered mercy — promising not to press charges if the teen walked away.
Instead, the teen retrieved his gun and still drove off in the vehicle.
Speaking to Fox & Friends First, Moales recounted what went through his mind in that moment: “I’m thinking about life. I’m thinking about my wife, my children. I’m just trying to get back home alive.”
“I’m No Hero — I’m a Miracle”
Moales admitted he hesitated when the teen first approached and tapped on the window with the weapon. But when the door swung open, instincts took over. “I sized him up and thought, ‘I can take him.’ And then I had to decide — do I grab the gun?”
The teen aimed the weapon directly at Moales’ chest, triggering a life-or-death struggle. The pastor managed to disarm him briefly and pin him, but the suspect eventually got the gun back and fled.
The car was later recovered, and the teen, along with two others, was arrested.
“No Reverence for Life — Or for God”
What shook Moales most wasn’t the attempted carjacking, but the spiritual emptiness he sensed in his attacker.
“I told him, ‘Relax, I’m a pastor. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not even going to press charges,’” Moales said. “But he didn’t care. He pushed me down and kept going.”
“That’s what hurt me the most — not that he took the car — but that he had no reverence. No respect. This is a Godless generation,” Moales added. “How could he not even pause, knowing I was a pastor?”
“I’m Just Glad God Covered Me”
Moales emphasized that he doesn’t see himself as a hero.
“I’m no hero. I’m a miracle,” he said. “God protected me that day. That’s the only reason I’m still here.”
The incident adds to a growing wave of youth-involved carjackings across the country, prompting renewed concern about violent crime, moral decline, and the influence of broken communities.
